ABOUT THE PODCAST
Conversations with the children of immigrants
How to Second Gen is a podcast featuring frank, lighthearted conversations with 2nd generation immigrants, in which we discuss culture shock, race, fitting in, not fitting in, and identity. It's hosted by Mark Hiew.
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People migrate. They leave their homeland and move to another country. This is a podcast about their kids. We explore what it’s like to be raised in one culture but with parents from another one. We discuss figuring things out—childhood, adolescence, your 20s and beyond—as you go along. And ultimately, what it means to belong, and how each of us defines home in a mobile, globalized world.
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Theme music is “Protofund” by Kevin Macleod: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4247-protofunk
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you mean by "Second Gen"?
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I’ve seen a number of different definitions for immigrant generations. For the purposes of this series, I’m using ‘first generation’ to refer to the people that grew up in one country then moved to another one, and ‘second generation’ to refer to their children. But honestly, I'm not that strict about definitions, so the show might feature people who are technically "first gen", "1.5", or some other variation.
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Why did you start a podcast about this topic?
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I have spent a lot of my life figuring out who I am and where I belong, and have always been interested in how other people have dealt with these questions. I was born and raised in a small town in southwestern Australia, the son of two Malaysian-Chinese immigrants. At various points in my life I have swung between trying to fit in vs wanting to stand out, embracing and rejecting my homeland, and being proud or ashamed of my Chinese-ness or lack thereof. I figured that other people have had similar experiences, and that we could compare notes and try to figure out what advice (if any) could be useful to our younger selves, or other people going through similar difficulties.